G/TBT/N/EU/775  
26 January 2021  
(21-0715) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original:  English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member:  EUROPEAN UNION   
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):   
2. Agency responsible:  European Commission  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers , email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:   
European Comm ission  
EU-TBT Enquiry Point  
Fax: +(32) 2 299 80 43  
E-mail: grow-eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools -databases/tbt/en/   
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [X], 5.7.1 [   ], other :  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Batteries 
and waste batteries; Wastes (ICS 13.030), Galvanic cells and batteries (ICS 29.220)  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notif ied document:  Proposal for a 
Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning batteries and waste 
batteries, repealing Directive 2006/66/EC and amending Regulation (EU) No 2019/1020 
(COM(2020)798) (130 page(s), in English; 28 page(s), in  English)  
6. Description of content:  This draft Regulation concerns sustainability, safety, labelling 
and information requirements for the placing on the Union market of batteries as well as 
due diligence requirements for economic operators and requiremen ts for the end -of-life 
treatment of waste batteries.  
The product requirements concern specifically: restrictions of hazardous substances (all 
batteries), reporting, labelling and - to be specified by subsequent legislation - maximum 
level of carbon footpri nt over the life cycle (electric vehicle and industrial batteries), 
minimum level of recycled cobalt, lead, lithium and nickel (automotive, electric vehicle 
and industrial batteries), performance and durability (portable, electric vehicle and 
industrial ba tteries), removability and replaceability (portable batteries), safety 
(stationary battery energy storage systems), labelling (all batteries), information on the 
state of health and expected lifetime (electric vehicle and industrial batteries), and a 
battery passport (electric vehicle and industrial batteries).  
It further contains a requirement for the economic operators that place electric vehicle 
and industrial batteries on the EU market to establish supply chain due diligence policies 
with regard to the sourcing of cobalt, natural graphite, lithium and nickel, and chemical 
compounds based on these necessary for the manufacturing of the active materials of 
batteries.  G/TBT/N/EU/775  
 
- 2 - 
 
  The requirements for the end -of-life management of batteries include: registration by 
producers, extended producer responsibility, collection of waste batteries, requirements 
related to treatment, recycling, repurposing and remanufacturing, providing end -of-life 
information, and reporting to competent authorities.  
7. Objective and rational e, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  Batteries are an important source of energy and one of the key enablers for 
sustainable development, green mobility, clean energy and climate neutrality. In order 
for the EU's product policies to  contribute to these objectives, it needs to be ensured that 
batteries marketed and sold in the Union are sourced and manufactured in a sustainable 
manner. Addressing the entire life cycle of batteries placed on the EU market requires the 
setting up of har monised product and marketing requirements, including conformity 
assessment procedures. The proposed supply chain due diligence policy aims to address 
the social and environmental risks that can be associated to the extraction, processing 
and trading of ce rtain raw materials for battery manufacturing purposes. The increased 
use of recovered materials would support the development of the circular economy and 
allow a more resource -efficient use of materials. Ensuring a low carbon footprint of 
batteries addres ses the fact that climate change is the second largest environmental 
impact for the life cycle of batteries (after the use of minerals and metals) and is 
necessary to ensure that the Union's objective to decarbonise the mobility and energy 
storage sectors is achieved, in line with the internationally agreed objectives on climate 
change.  
Further, batteries should be designed and manufactured so as to optimise their 
performance, durability and safety. The use of hazardous substances in batteries should 
be re stricted in order to protect human health and the environment and to reduce the 
presence of such substances in waste.  
Requirements concerning the end -of-life stage are necessary to address the 
environmental implications of the batteries and to support the  creation of recycling 
markets for batteries and markets for secondary raw materials from batteries in order to 
close the materials loops.  
In order to better reflect new developments in the use of batteries, the proposal 
distinguishes between different ca tegories of batteries in accordance with their design 
and use, independent of the battery chemistry. This classification is used to apply certain 
requirements only to those market segments of batteries that will have the most impact 
on the sustainability a spects concerned. It also facilitates monitoring of collection and 
recycling of different types of batteries;  
Protection of the environment  
8. Relevant documents:   
• Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
20 June 2019 on market surveillance and compliance of products and amending 
Directive 2004/42/EC and Regulations (EC) No 765/2008 and (EU) No 305/2011  
https://eur -lex.europa.e u/legal -content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32019R1020  
9. Proposed date of adoption:  Adoption by the European Parliament and the Council is 
expected in 2021 or 2022  
Proposed date of entry into force:  20 days from publication in the Official Journal of 
the EU (specific provisions shall apply from various dates as indicated in the proposal)  
10. Final date for comments:  90 days from notification  G/TBT/N/EU/775  
 
- 3 - 
 
  11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available , of other body:   
European Commission  
EU-TBT Enquiry Point  
Fax: + (32) 2 299 80 43  
E-mail: grow-eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
The text is available on the EU -TBT Website: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools -
databases/tbt/en/  
https://eur -lex.europa.eu/legal -content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52020PC0798  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachment s/2021/TBT/EEC/21_0656_00_e.pdf  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2021/TBT/EEC/21_0656_01_e.pdf